


we're still kids but we're so in love

by nanasbyulie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Donghyuck is suspicious, Golden Boy Doyoung, Love, M/M, Minor Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Online Classes, POV Outsider, Short Drabble, Soccer Boys, best friends mark and hyuck, class president taeyong, gym room conversations, hyuck is too inquisitive for his own good, injuries, why is doyoung always injured? bc i'm terrible at plot haha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 07:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30001512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanasbyulie/pseuds/nanasbyulie
Summary: In which Donghyuck is convinced that there's more to what meets the eye when it comes to Taeyong and Doyoung; after all, there's no other reason for the class president to be absent on the same day as the golden boy, nor is there any reason for those two to be the only two figures missing in the interclass game of tug of war, and why the gym room doors seem to be locked from the inside after practice is over.
Relationships: Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong
Comments: 8
Kudos: 85





	we're still kids but we're so in love

**Author's Note:**

> For some quick context: Taeyong, Doyoung and Yuta are in Go-3 (senior year), while Donghyuck and Mark are in Go-2 (junior year). They know each other through student council and being a part of the soccer team.

“No, hear me out okay?” Donghyuck says, and Mark represses a groan, “They were the _only_ two missing people at the yearly tug of war championship. Their class _lost_ because they were missing people.”

“Missing _Doyoung_ ,” Mark corrects him, “Taeyong’s the least competitive person I know, he’d just stand there and contribute nothing.”

“That’s not the point I’m trying to make here, Mark,” Donghyuck irks, “The point is both of them were missing. At the same time. I get it with Taeyong — he doesn’t like sports. But the _Sports Captain_? Missing at the same time as the Class President at a sport’s meet?”

“It could very well be a coincidence,” Mark says, rubbing his forehead and leaning back on his chair, looking between the Math homework that they’ve both abandoned to accommodate for Donghyuck’s need to talk about Doyoung and Taeyong, “I don’t get why you’re so interested in this.”

Donghyuck shrugs. “I’m trying to figure out if I can shoot my shot with either of them,” he says. Mark stares, and Donghyuck chuckles. “Taeyong’s going to be a doctor, Doyoung’s definitely going to be a national soccer player, and if not, then a national shot put player. I’m just trying to secure my future here. Imagine marrying a doctor or a national athlete. Your future is set.”

Mark chuckles. “Maybe you’d want to use that brain to actually study, and make something out of yourself instead?”

Donghyuck smirks. “Now, where’s the fun in that?”

“You’re impossible.”

Donghyuck _is_ impossible. And he’s going to get to the bottom of this, one way or the other.

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

At three pm on a Friday afternoon, Donghyuck would much rather be headed back home. Instead, he’s stuck slumped over the rickety metal bench in the student council room, head thrown back and eyes closed.

Damn Mark Lee. If it weren’t for him, Hyuck wouldn’t have been roped into being a part of the student council at all. But Mark’s a goody two shoes who wants to help make the school better, and Hyuck is his best friend. And truthfully, Hyuck has a weak point for Mark’s pout. And he just hopes Mark only does it naïvely, and doesn’t know of Hyuck’s weakness and exploit it.

“Oh, good afternoon, Donghyuck! You’re early, the meeting doesn’t start until half an hour later.”

Donghyuck pops his eyes open and smiles lazily at his senior Yuta.

“Class ended early, and didn’t have anywhere else to be.”

Yuta hums in understanding. “Mark not with you?”

“You know how he is,” Hyuck says with a grin, “Had a bunch of questions, so he’s in the staff room bugging the teachers. He’ll be here before the meeting starts. Where’s Taeyong? Aren’t you two in the same class?”

“Oh, yeah. Taeyong wasn’t in class today,” Yuta says, and at that, Donghyuck’s shooting up at that at a speed that Yuta jumps in surprise.

“He _what_?”

“He texted me that he’s sick, so he’s staying home for the day.”

Donghyuck’s head’s already three steps ahead in thoughts. The previous day at soccer practice, Doyoung had ended up spraining his ankle pretty bad, and had to be taken to the hospital. What were the odds that Taeyong was absent the immediate next day, for someone who _hated_ taking sick days and had come to school even when he was running a fever because he didn’t want to miss out? He’d looked perfectly fine at the student council traffic rally the previous day.

Donghyuck hikes his bag up on his shoulder, and bows awkwardly to the amused Yuta.

“I uh, just remembered that Mark and I were going to visit Doyoung today, he got hurt yesterday.”

Yuta looks genuinely upset. “Oh, is that why he wasn’t in class today? That sucks. Go on ahead, pass on my well wishes to him, would you? I might as well postpone the meeting to Monday, then, with so many members missing.”

“Thanks Yuta!” Donghyuck says, and then he’s sprinting down the hallways to the staff offices. He catches Mark just as he’s walking down, gripping his hand and pulling him after Hyuck.

“Hyuc—”

“I’ll explain later, let’s go.”

Twenty minutes later, they’re standing in front of the city hospital where Doyoung’s being kept.

“You’re telling me you dragged me all the way here to test your little theory on if Doyoung and Taeyong are dating?”

“I told you, I think Dotae are suspicious, and I can’t help my curiosity.”

“ _Dotae_?”

“Doyoung and Taeyong, really Mark, keep up.”

Mark shakes his head, amused, but lets Hyuck drag him to the front desk.

“Hello!” Hyuck said, pulling his lips into his usual charming smile. He knows it gets things done, “My teammate Doyoung was admitted here yesterday. We wanted to meet him, it’s really sad that our captain’s injured, you know.”

“Oh,” the woman behind the counter says, smiling fondly, “That boy has lovely friends, another boy came by too! He’s in room 202, on the second floor. Please be sure not to make too much noise, okay?”

And Donghyuck’s dragging a half complacent Mark to the second floor. “See? She said some other friend was here too.”

“Doyoung has many friends, Donghyuck,” Mark says, “There’s a reason why they call him the golden boy.”

“Yes, but they’d come in groups. She said another boy came in. Nobody from the team or the class would visit him alone. Even I brought you along.”

“Against my will,” Mark grumbles.

“You love me,” Donghyuck says flippantly. Mark doesn’t have a reply for that.

Doyoung’s head snaps up in surprise when Donghyuck and Mark walk into his room, Mark softly closing the door behind him. They’d been nice enough to get Doyoung a small bouquet, and Mark places it on the table next to his bed.

“Hello Mark, Hyuck,” Doyoung says, looking a little dazed, “I wasn’t expecting to see you two.”

And while Donghyuck’s paying half attention to Mark making small talk — ‘We felt really bad, I hope it heals before the championships, I know how much those mean to you!’ — Donghyuck takes inventory.

Boxes of soup on the bedside table, change of clothes on the seat next to Doyoung’s, and a large bouquet of flowers (that puts the one he and Mark bought to shame) at the foot of the bed. With a note that has a _heart_ drawn across it. Donghyuck’s thoughts are in disarray.

“Thank you for coming, you two,” Doyoung’s saying, and Donghyuck snaps back into the conversation, to see Doyoung smiling at the two of them, “But you guys don’t have to worry. It’s majorly superficial, so I’ll be back on the field in no time. Don’t slack off until then, yeah?”

Mark nods, and Donghyuck says, “Do you need anything? We could get it for you, you know. With you living in the city alone and all?”

Doyoung laughs, almost as if he knows what Hyuck is getting at. Hyuck knows Doyoung moved to Seoul alone to attend their high school, to increase his chances of getting onto a university team, but it seems like he’s already well cared for.

“Don’t worry about it, Donghyuck,” he says with a wave of his arm, “Got a friend to help out. Thanks for the offer though.”

And before Donghyuck can possibly come up with more questions to dig and ask, Mark’s bowing and pushing him out. The last thing Hyuck sees as the door closes behind them is Doyoung looking fondly at the bouquet of flowers at his feet, lips pulled into a tender smile.

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

“They’re impossible to read,” Hyuck says to Mark one day as they’re trudging the walk from the school back home, a while after they had visited Doyoung in the hospital, “When we had that online meeting thing, it was so obvious how similar their backgrounds were to each other’s, but they never had their mics on at the same time. There was _no way_ to conclude anything.”

Mark sighs. “How long are you going to be at it, Donghyuck? It’s been a month since you’ve been trying.”

Hyuck hums in agreement. “Maybe I should give up. It’s stressing me out more, and it’s almost finals season. God, I wish I _knew_ before I gave up. At this point it’s not even about how good looking and accomplished they are and how they’re my potential crushes. They’re weeks away from the _Suneung_ , and we’re probably not going to see them after they graduate. They gave me no time to woo either of them. It’s just to satiate my curiosity now.”

Mark chuckles, and leans over to ruffle Hyuck’s hair. “You’re adorable,” he says, “But I’d say give it a rest. You’d been distracted through the game as well, especially after Taeyong and Yuta came in to watch.”

“I know,” he says, “I was trying to catch subtle cues, but it’s hard when you’re also trying to keep an eye on the ball. Anyways, none of them did anything out of the ordinary from what I could see. It sucked that Doyoung scratched his knee though, that’s going to hurt.”

Mark winces at the memory. “Yeah, that is. Anyways, give up now. They’re both focusing on their university entrances, I’m sure, and you need to focus on getting your rank up.”

Donghyuck huffs. “Don’t remind me,” he groans, “My parents were not happy that I slipped up last time. Help me out, please, Markie? Please be of use, Mr. Rank One. My mother keeps asking me why your good habits aren’t rubbing off me.”

“I doubt I’d be able to make a miracle happen if you don’t want to study, _Hae_ ,” Mark says, amused, but then smiles at Donghyuck, “But let’s try and study more together so we can work on things you’re not very confident in.”

“Thanks Mar— _oh_!”

“Anything wrong?”

Donghyuck rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. “I think I forgot my math assignment in the gym room,” he says, “I’ll run back and get it. Take my bag home for me? Thanks!”

And he’s throwing his bag into Mark’s arms — and Mark tries to say something, but then just shuts his mouth and shakes his head with a smile — and Donghyuck runs back to the school grounds. The gym room’s light is turned on, to Hyuck’s surprise, as he sees the portion of the floor illuminated from the cracks in the door. He frowns. If coach found out someone had left the light on overnight, he would flip.

He goes to pull the door open, only to find it locked shut. Huh? Nobody on the team has a key to the door, and it’s usually just left open. If the door is locked, it has to be locked from the _inside_.

Hyuck goes around the small room, to the window. It’s been ages since it has been cleaned, and it barely lets him see silhouettes, but he can hear some very familiar voices on the other side.

“What were you thinking, doing something stupid like that? God, that looks terrible.”

“Thanks babe,” the other, softer voice drawls, “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

“I’m not going to sugar-coat your injury for you, Doie,” Hyuck recognizes Taeyong say, “Why did you do that stupid maneuver? You could’ve won even if you hadn’t saved that shot, and you know that.”

“Hm, let’s see,” Doyoung says, a hint of mirth lacing his voice, “Maybe I was desperately trying to impress this certain Class President who happened to be standing in the bleachers.”

Hyuck reels.

“S-shut up. I hate you.”

“I _love_ you,” Doyoung says, so easily and so firmly, and even if Hyuck can’t clearly see him, he can tell his eyes are focused on Taeyong’s, “And if I get to see you blush and take care of me like this every time I pull this foolhardiness, I’ll be willing to do it over and over, my love.”

“Oh, hush,” Taeyong murmurs, but it’s so soft, and so fond, “You know I’ll love you regardless. Come here.”

And as Hyuck sees the two silhouettes pulling closer, like gravity drawing them together, he turns away. There’s little conceit in the smile that takes over his features, instead there’s a hint of warmth. _They sound so very in love_ , he thinks. He wonders if he should’ve been privy to such a heartfelt moment. One that was behind closed doors, solely theirs. Donghyuck don’t know what kind of social or other barriers they have to keep their relationship under the wraps like they have been.

Whatever the case, Donghyuck’s curiosity has been quite fully satisfied. His math homework can wait until tomorrow. It’s not like his soaring heart’s going to let him focus today after all. He should perhaps instead start searching for who else to woo, now that Doyoung and Taeyong are clearly off the market.

The sun casts a glow on Hyuck as he walks back down, and the world seems quite lovely that evening.

.❀。• * E N D ₊°。 ❀°。

**Author's Note:**

> A quick Dotae drabble after today's episode of NCT127 in high school. I had so much fun! POV outsider was an interesting thing to explore for me, I haven't done it much, and I've also never written a non-Dream pairing, so please do leave your thoughts on what you think of it in the comments and kudos if you think this deserves it.
> 
> This fic is retweetable [here](https://twitter.com/nanasbyulie/status/1370481658248450048).
> 
> Have a beautiful day/night, loves  
> ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶


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